Bank of America robbery suspect in custody

Police said a bearded man wearing dark sunglasses and a red collared shirt under a green hooded sweatshirt walked into the bank branch shortly before 3:45 p.m. and gave a teller a handwritten note requesting cash. The teller, police said, gave the man an unknown amount of money, which he stashed in a green cloth shopping bag. Courtesy of Wichita police

Police said a bearded man wearing dark sunglasses and a red collared shirt under a green hooded sweatshirt walked into the bank branch shortly before 3:45 p.m. and gave a teller a handwritten note requesting cash. The teller, police said, gave the man an unknown amount of money, which he stashed in a green cloth shopping bag. Courtesy of Wichita police

Police quickly apprehended a 25-year-old man sought in connection with a robbery at Bank of America near a bustling northwest Wichita intersection Thursday afternoon.

The suspect, of Wichita, was found and taken into custody at 5:26 p.m., Wichita police Sgt. Steve Yarberry said – about 90 minutes after a man reportedly had walked into the bank branch at 7310 W. 21st St., west of Ridge Road, demanded cash, then fled.

In an e-mail to news media late Thursday afternoon, Wichita police spokesman Lt. Doug Nolte said the man “was identified and turned in.”

Yarberry, who was at the robbery scene, said he would not disclose details of the man’s capture immediately so that the suspect’s “defense would not be jeopardized.” He said some or all of the money had been recovered and that bank officials were working Thursday evening to determine how much was stolen.

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Authorities, meanwhile, were interviewing the suspect at City Hall, Yarberry said. He expected police to release more information during a Friday morning news briefing.

Yarberry said a bearded man wearing dark sunglasses and a red collared shirt under a green hooded sweatshirt walked into the bank branch shortly before 3:45 p.m. and gave a teller a handwritten note requesting cash. The teller, Yarberry said, gave the man an unknown amount of money, which he stashed in a green cloth shopping bag.

The man then ran from the bank, headed west toward 21st Street’s intersection with Ridge. Officers took him into custody not long after the police department released bank surveillance photos of the man to the public.

One customer and several employees were in the bank at the time of the robbery, Yarberry said. There was no weapon shown or threatened, he said, and no one was hurt.

In the hour following Thursday’s robbery, several police patrol cars surrounded the bank branch, blocking its parking lot entrances off of 21st Street. At one point, an investigator searched the grass briefly on the west side of the brick building.

Around 5:30 p.m., a bearded man wearing a red shirt could be seen talking to police through one of the bank’s window. About 30 minutes later, he was escorted out of the front door by an officer and driven away in a patrol car.